TO THE RESCUE.

When Bob Thorp awoke that same morning about six o'clock, his first
thought was that he had six shillings in his pocket. Six shillings
got without working for them, so that he had every right to look on
them as an extra, and spend them on himself.

Having made up his mind on this point, he lay for a happy half-hour,
thinking how he should lay it out to get most pleasure out of it.
"Why, I know!" he almost exclaimed aloud, as a particularly pleasant
idea struck him. "I'll go to the big football match at Crinnock.
It's going to be a clipper, they say. Ain't I glad I thought of it!
I shall have just enough to do it comfortably."

The idea so excited him that he jumped out of bed then and there,
and, banging at his poor mother's door, he bade her get up sharp, and
light the fire, and get the breakfast, because he had to be off
early. Then he dressed himself in the best he'd got, and presented
himself in the kitchen.

In answer to his mother's surprised looks and questionings, he
explained that he had to go away on business, in search of a job, and
must look his best; and his mother, rejoicing in the prospect of a
day of freedom from him, cooked him the last egg she had, and gave
him as big a breakfast as he could eat; and he ate it heartily,
without a qualm of conscience for his deception towards her.

At the railway station he met quite a crowd, all going in the same
direction as himself; neither the darkness nor the cold could affect
their energy or spirits, and Bob's spirits rose too, as he followed